Satellite is an artificial object, intentionally placed into orbit. Thousands of Satellites have been launched into orbit around Earth. A few Satellites called Space Probes have been placed into orbit around Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, etc. The Moon is the Earth’s only natural Satellite, moves around Earth in the same kind of orbit.

The Motion of a Satellite is a direct consequence of the Gravity of a body (earth), around which the satellite travels without any propulsion. A satellite move around Earth is pulled in by the gravitational force (centripetal) of the Earth. Contrary to this pull, the rotating motion of satellite around Earth has an associated force (centrifugal) which pushes it away from the Earth. The centrifugal force equals the gravitational force and perfectly balance to maintain the satellite in its orbit.

The Velocity of a Satellite in circular or elliptical orbit depends on its altitude ‘h’ at that point. Secondly, the mass of satellite does not appear in its velocity equations. Thus satellite velocity in its orbit is independent of its mass. Further, a satellite in elliptical orbit moves faster when closer to earth (near perigee) and moves slower when farther from earth (near apogee).